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A new view of strategy

Guest post by: Dave Mather

Article Overview: It's critical we scrutinize the way we strategize. It's a new day!

A new view of strategy

The Reality of Change

By Dave Mather, Corporate Specialist, Dale Carnegie Business Group

Today's owners, managers, and executives often want circumstances and people to be different. Unfortunately, most of their desired changes are based on their concepts and conclusions about reality rather than a clear picture of what's going on, what changes make sense, and how those changes actually advance a clear strategy. For example, one executive told us: "We need to change our culture. It does not support what we're trying to achieve." When asked, "What is the current culture?" he replied, "People aren't proactive enough. They don't understand where we're going and are unable to get buy-in from the people that report to them. We need them to step up and take more initiative." Notice he adds another conclusion to the mix - his vague concepts of proactive and initiative. Let's separate fact from fiction.

In reality, many of today's employees are cogs in obsolete machinery. In the near future, perhaps as many as half today's nameplate companies will no longer exist. The dilemma business owners and managers face is increasing today's level of performance while making radical changes for the future. This involves two conflicting forces - optimization and growth. This can be a deadly conflict as the organization oscillates between a desire for change and the tendency to seek balance, predictability, and equilibrium. Too many organizations are ruined by executives clinging to their out-dated assumptions or ones making radical changes that fail to produce short-term desired results.

For example even the smallest upstarts need technology to gain access to their markets. Companies large and small regularly spend small fortunes on systems and programs that simply reinforce obsolete structures that lock the organization into processes that do not help them better serve their customer's needs. Integrating people and processes is a deciding factor in the success or failure of the enterprise. Conceptually, most executives know this, but successful implementation often eludes them. In most organizations the gap between technology and the human element is wide. In one Canadian corporation, management referred to IT people as "Martians who ask questions with an astonishing lack of knowledge about our business." Another referred to IT as, "A black hole that sucks up all our resources."

Success requires genuine collaboration between business people and technology specialists. It's not easy and the business landscape is littered with failed change initiatives. Re-engineering, according to its creator Michael Hammer, has a 70% failure rate. Attempts at creating an executive's desired future by asking others what they think we "should" do often create more confusion than clarity. Even asking customers what they want, while important, and often gives an organization little more than ideas to retool obsolete processes.

People want to connect to the strategic framework with a feeling of belonging and purpose. For example, here are one organization's declared assumptions about people:

• Most people want to be involved meaningfully in their work.
• Most people want to feel connected to, and part of, a larger world - to have a
  
  genuine sense of belonging.
• Most people would like to be themselves, to feel a sense of responsibility as well as a sense of personal uniqueness, and to have the freedom to express themselves as they are.

Building their enterprise on this framework is exciting, energizing and profitable. Translating "change" from a vague concept into concrete goals and clear action steps is clearly management's responsibility. Here is a fundamental truth about change: "Human energy arises from freedom, not coerced alignment." Too many of today's change efforts are inadvertently manipulative. People strongly resist manipulation. For example, asking for input when you mind is already made up, is manipulative. Passing the buck by asking for opinions so you have someone else to blame is equally manipulative.

The challenge most executives face is organizing the human and electronic elements of their businesses to produce the most cost-effective results for their customers. Change initiatives that do not directly support this important task often do more harm than good. Many are "apple-polishing" efforts that improve elements that do little to advance the organization towards its true potential.

It is critical that we connect a crystal clear view of reality to a strong vision of what the enterprise aspires to become. This includes accepting brutal truths about current reality. Turning dreams and visions into concrete reality by eliciting the willing cooperation of others is the job of a genuine visionary business professional.

First Published in the Epoch Times

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Article Tags: management, planning, reality, strategy, vision



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